CAMIONS CITERNES DANS LES RESERVES A TIGRES : REAPPROVISIONNEMENT ARTIFICIEL DES TROUS D'EAU A SEC. Times of India, ce jour.
BANGALORE: For Richard Parker, the digitally created tiger in the movie Life of Pai, water was no problem as it had a digitally created ocean. But for
real tigers in Karnataka'ssanctuaries facing acute water shortage due to drought, that is not the case. What authorities have decided is to artificially fill drying
waterholes.
While some wildlife activists cry foul over this artificial method, experts say that it is the source of water that is important while replenishing the waterholes artificially in the tiger reserves. While surface water
(running water) is a strict no-no, underground water is perfectly acceptable and does not risk contamination for the wildlife, even if transported in trucks or tankers, add experts.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), New Delhi, too says that as per the guidelines for
tiger conservation and tourism, tiger reserves must take proactive steps for drought-prone habitats. It also mentions that as of now, there shall be
no communicable disease to wildlife through
this proposal, but that necessary steps should be taken to prevent any communicable disease by consulting a specialist wildlife vet.
Elephants are migratory and they move in search of water towards rivers and big lakes, but territorial animals like tigers cannot move out.
"It is quite a common practice in central tiger reserves faced with drought situations year after year during the summer season. If the Karnataka forest department has decided that waterholes
need to be artificially replenished, then there must be an imminent need to do so keeping the water scarcity uppermost in mind. However, care must be taken to ensure that the source of water is
necessarily underground and water subsequently gets transported properly," says an NTCA senior official.
"The surface area should not be a dam where there is flowing water, instead it should be underground water and usually that source is quite safe," says vet practitioner Dr G Pampapathi.
The proposal to artificially replenish waterholes is likely to be approved by the Chief Wildlife Warden soon.
